Category: News

After starting the year on the road, we finally decided it was time to unpack our bags and renovate the laundry. Thanks to Sime’s fine handiwork and Alice’s excellent skills in giving advice, it’s become the best room in the house. We’ve subsequently spent a lot of time there during winter writing new songs, drinking wine, and washing our clothes.

Along the way, we accidentally made a mini-album of 7 songs called Greetings From Goodbye. It’s a collection of new duo music, and some remastered tracks from our out-of-print EP Songs from the Start. Alice hit record on the songs, Sime painted the artwork, and John Castle mixed and mastered it all.

We’re excited to be launching Greetings From Goodbye with a duo show at the Folk Informal at FBI Social this Thursday in Sydney, followed by full band shows at the Workers Club in Melbourne, and Bigsound in Brisbane.SWEET JEAN – LIVE SHOWS

Sunday 07 September The Workers Club, Melbourne (VIC)
Thursday 11 September Bigsound, Brisbane (QLD)
SWEET JEAN – Greetings From Goodbye mini-album available at live shows and through Bandcamp from Thursday 14 August 2014

If you can’t make it to one of our shows (we’ll be heading around the country later in the year) you can get yourself a copy of Dear DepartureHERE.

Thanks and see you soon,
Sime & Alice

Here’s some nice stuff people have been saying about Dear Departure:

★★★★½ “This record mesmerises like a live set that improves as the musicians and room warms” The Sydney Morning Herald

★★★★ “songwriters and musicians of plentiful ability…..it’s clear this isn’t just a departure; it’s only the beginning”The Age

“There are few duets these days that can compare to the beautiful, sincere and evocative sound of Sweet Jean”The Music

“…a magnificent debut”Paisajes Eléctricos Magazine

“Sweet Jean’s record Dear Departure has been on high rotation at my place. Two distinct voices and strong songwriters make a combination greater than the sum of the parts. Dreamy, epic, wry, tender, straight-shooting. This record deserves to be heard far and wide.”Paul Kelly

“….sharp harmonies, great song writing, beautiful playing, and an overall sound that makes you feel fulfilled” ABC Radio National, Album of the Week

“Sweet Jean have continued the tradition of brilliant local albums for 2013. Dear Departure is an album you must check out!!!”PBS 106.7 FM, Feature Record

So, don’t ask us how it happened, but it looks like we’ve become ‘morning people’. We showed up to the Corner Hotel early this morning to play a couple of live tracks for Jess & Ben’s last show. There was an awesome turnout for the Breakfasters live OB, and big love for Triple R!!

Hope you’re enjoying this fine Sunday. Just a quick note to say we’ve got a couple of live shows coming up in Melbourne, and if you’re nearby we’d love to see you!

We’re really looking forward to playing a LIVE TO AIR gig next Saturday as part of 3RRR’s Winter Wamers Series.

Saturday 21 July, 11:30am – Triple R Performance Space
If you’re subscribed to Triple R, you can win tickets to be in the audience by emailing [email protected]
AND If you’re elsewhere in Oz, you can stream the broadcast here

The VERY next day, we’ll be playing a matinee gig with Duke Batavia & Roscoe James Irwin. Ross is the ridiculously talented guy who arranged strings for our album.

Sunday 22 July, 2pm – Workers Club
We’ll have some NEW songs and a BAND for this show, and it’s gonna be a whack fun Sunday afternoon!

ALICE is just over there playing the CASIO that we recently found in the back shed, so I am gonna take this moment to say hi & WELCOME TO JUNE! Your call is important to us and our operators have been standing around wondering how to work this thing for some time. And now here we are. With news!

We had a great start to the year with Cygnet, Nannup and Port Fairy Festivals across the Southern seaboard. Our shows with Eilen Jewell at the NSC, Caravan Club and Meeniyan Hall were tons of fun and we loved playing with Mojo JuJu , Jordie Lane, The Hello Morning, Quarry Mountain Dead Rats and Jen Cloher at their shows.

WE HAVE SEEN MIND-BLOWING MUSIC! Alice was lucky enough to interview PJ Harvey back in January, and seeing her perform at the Regent Theatre was an awesome way to start the year. Sime went to Cold Chisel at Festival Hall and loved it, WHICH DOESN’T MAKE ME A BAD PERSON OK.

WE MADE A FOLK EP! The Folk EP we recorded with JC over a couple of days a few months back has been a quiet release prior to our larger scale album. The EP is available at shows and is called Songs from the Start. It has us in duo mode without a bell or a whistle in sight. If you’re a little bit afraid of where Alice is heading with the CASIO, this EP is for you.

OUR SONG IS GETTING PLAYED ON VIRGIN PLANES! We are delighted to confirm that that IS our song Shiver & Shake on every second Virgin aircraft as you are having a panic attack waiting to get off the tarmac. All that talk of dead bodies and things bursting into flames in the second verse clearly didn’t strike the music programmer as inappropriate ‘in-flight entertainment’….and to that we say RIGHT ON whoever you are!

THIS WEEK we met with Ross Irwin who will be arranging the strings for our album which is still calledDear Departure and is “getting there.” We look forward to releasing it in our lifetime. JC is still threatening us with slap-bass solos across much of it but that should desist once we break his thumbs.

GIGS! It’s great to have a few new shows in the diary. Though the proprietor of our local video store will not be pleased.

IN TWO WEEKS on SATURDAY JUNE 30 we will be at the Northcote Social Club supporting Mike Noga who’s just arrived back from an extensive overseas jaunt. Tickets at the Door.

AND THAT FRIENDS will take us to the end of June when we will let you know about plans for a couple of band gigs, more songs from the Hit-Van and some potentially terrifying covers from the 80s. Just breathe. It’s going to be OK.

In the meantime we hope you enjoy this version of the John Jacob Niles song I Wonder as I Wander. We didn’t become religious over the summer (all those references to “JC” refer to our producer

John Castle, not Jesus Christ), but we do love this song and we think John Jacob Niles is a remarkable cat.

Greetings from tropical Brunswick. We’re back on deck after some relaxing summer afternoons in the hail, with our first single out in the world, a bunch of live shows lined up, and some new music and videos on the way.

We released Shiver & Shake at the end of 2011, and it’s been getting some great responses around the traps – it’s currently iTunes Single of the Week! We’re also chuffed that it got “Single of 2011” on PBS, 5/5 on Triple J Unearthed, and to our delight and mild bemusement was included alongside The Scissor Sisters and The Flaming Lips in Germany’s Jetzt Magazine’s “Top 5 Songs to Kick off 2012“.

Amidst brief moments of internet notoriety and confusion, we also played our first shows with a full band, and we’re very much enjoying their company, their playing, and the dubious honour of carting their gear around in our shiny new car. Had a great time supporting one of our favourite Melbourne bands The Hello Morning recently. They have a new album out that we think is really worth a listen, you can read a review of that show here.

Things are also bubbling along in the studio, and we’re keen to share some new tunes with you soon. In the meantime, you can download Shiver & Shake for FREE until TOMORROW. While you’re there, if you feel like making a comment..like “these people can sing better than Katy Perry”, that’d be tops!

As you may know, we’re recording an album at the moment, which will be out next year and we are really excited to be launching our first single – Shiver and Shake and we can’t wait for you to take a listen via the soundcloud stream above.

A few months ago, we ran into our old friend John Castle (Washington, The Bamboos) at our favourite licensed op shop. By 3am we had all decided to make an album together. A few days later, we spent an afternoon in John’s shed studios recording a song called Shiver & Shake, was born. Shiver and Shake puts a tropical spin on the macabre Grimm’s story of the boy who went into the world to learn how to shiver and shake. John Castle has brought a truckload of clap-your-hands pop sensibility to our often darker and bent influences.

We’re having a ball in the studio with the songs and the sounds, and we are really happy to be sharing the first of our new music.

You can hear our single Shiver and Shake right now and if you are in Melbourne on Sunday 4th December head to the Toff In Town from 7.30pm for our Shiver and Shake Launch Event. Mention this post to us at the show and we will give you a free download of this single! Thanks for your support, enjoy listening to the track and see you at the Toff.